SPR Student Travel Awards

Dear SPR student members,

As Chair of the SPR Committee to Promote Student Interests, I am pleased to announce the continuation of the SPR Student Travel Award program. The intent of the SPR Student Travel Awards is to assist students without other means of travel support to attend and present research at the SPR annual meeting. For the 2011 meeting in Boston, MA, 30 awards will be available for student members presenting at the SPR meeting. Among these 30 awards, 15 awards of $500 will be reserved for North American members and 15 awards of $1000 will be reserved for non-North American members.

Eligibility

Only student members residing outside a 500 mile radius from the annual meeting shall be eligible. Geographic locations excluded this year include most cities in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania (except Pittsburgh and Erie) as well as Baltimore and College Park, MD, Washington, DC, and Newark, DE. If you have questions about your geographic location eligibility, please contact me (rhouston@ria.buffalo.edu).

Any student member who is the first author on a poster or paper accepted for presentation at the SPR annual meeting is eligible. Current SPR members must be up to date with dues, but prospective members that apply and pay dues by the time of poster or paper submission deadline will be eligible.

Students must not have received their Ph.D. by the time of the meeting in order to be eligible.

Student members with travel funds available from the laboratory in which they work will not be eligible. A brief statement from the student’s lab advisor indicating that no funds are available for student travel will be taken as evidence of meeting this criterion. This will be verified during the selection process. Examples of lab support that would disqualify students are support for lodging, conference registration, or airfare.

Students are ineligible to receive a travel award in two consecutive years.

Application

Eligible applicants may fill out a brief online application on the SPR website at the time of abstract submission. This application is linked to the abstract submission page. Selection

Applicants will be selected by lottery from among all eligible applications. A separate lottery will be held for North American and non-North American applications. We plan to notify winners by August 1 and will list them in the Fall edition of the SPR Student newsletter.Other Considerations

Members of the SPR Committee to Promote Student Interests are eligible to receive an award.

Travel award winners will still be eligible to receive a student poster award at the meeting.

Recipients of travel grant awards for individuals from developing countries (Latin American, Asia, and Eastern Europe) are not eligible to receive a student travel award in the same year.

On behalf of the society, I am very pleased to be able to announce the availability of these awards, and hope to see you in Boston.